THE LIGHT PRINCESS THE NATIONAL THEATRE

Last night this critique was removed from Google,  there seems to be no freedom of speech?...

I have since received hate mail saying that I did not understand the story of The Light Princess and the purpose of it, and that I am therefore ill equipped to write a critique about it.  Come on?  The story and the meaning behind it is simple enough. The point is,  that it is all a matter of opinion.  I think I do have a right to say whether I like something? Blogs contain peoples opinions, they are freedom of speech. I have been a fan of the National Theatre for many years. I was told that the piece on the blog was not suitable for children to read.  A bit of controversy always sells tickets. Fan mail or hate mail it's all mail. You may wonder who am I to pass comment,  when all I have done is produce and direct an award winning film this year?.

So I have written this again.
Last night I tasted the most delicious cake made from Polenta, lemon cake at The National Theatre.

I was going to The Light Princess by the talented and award winning Tori Amos, with lyrics and writing by the experienced Samuel Adamson, the music by Tori and Martin Lowe with arrangements by John Phillip Shanale. It was in its early days. There are so many people involved with this production that to point a finger in any direction, would not be correct.  So much work has gone into this production, and you can see it. Based on a Victorian Fairy Tale.  I was so thrilled to get tickets, and  I entered the theatre like the little girls who had dressed up with fairy wings.
I was sadly disappointed, except with the scenery and mastery and direction of the puppets by Toby Olie, which made up for everything. There was no problem with the staging which was exceptional, more the content.  You can see The little Princess floating and swimming gracefully, she does that well. Believe me it must have been difficult singing upside down with her legs held up by two men.
P.S Thank you for the hate mail keep it coming.
Musicals are so tricky, they need many songs and musical panache, most of which you throw away and start again, until you find the hits that keep the whole thing moving.
I dislike the political correctness of the play. The little girl, in front of me was wriggling and bored.This did not help.  Of course she won't be able to say so.  The problem is we all love a good tune and Peter Pan is a better story.
I loved the car, and the strong men holding her floating Royal Highness up. The story is about the misery of a little girls life with a father that does not love her, she does not cry, she floats. It is also about a boy who is a Prince and how he was effected by his parental upbringing.
It is  hugely expensive to put these things on, and the work involved  showed through the cracks of an ordinary script.  Am I being tough may be?  I wanted to be proved wrong, and I will go back later again to see if I like it any better the second time. I do not want my wings deflated.
There seems to be 'chummy' politics going on, and not enough imagination. There is so much talent readily available in England. There should be at least one memorable song?.  "Melody is not the problem" Boris says, but anyway the music needs work. Most of the times you say the word good it is invariably proceeded by the word "no", yes is followed by the word alright or okay.

Another new piece of theatre  is opening round the corner, with Sir Tim Rice's lyrics.  "From here to eternity"  which should be  worth seeing, and there is always the Lion King.

THE LIGHT PRINCESS AND JENNA ZOE

Last night I tasted the most delicious cake made from Polenta, lemon cake at The National Theatre.

I was going to The Light Princess by the talented and award winning Tori Amos, with lyrics and writing by the experienced Samuel Adamson, the music by Tori and Martin Lowe with arrangements by John Phillip Shanale. Directed by Marriane Elliott.  It was in its early days. There are so many people involved with this production that to point a finger in any direction, would not be correct.  So much work has gone into this production, and you can see it. Effort does not equal success, genius does.  Based on a Victorian Fairy Tale.  I was so thrilled to get tickets, and  I entered the theatre like the little girls who had dressed up with fairy wings. I rejected seeing Diana in favour of this, and suffered a public row with my friend who said that I should have gone and supported the Tunnel Princess instead.
I was  disappointed, except with the scenery and mastery and direction of the puppets by Toby Olie, which made up for everything.
Musicals are so tricky, they need many songs and musical panache, most of which you throw away and start again, until you find the hits that keep the whole thing moving.
I dislike the political correctness of the play, and the little girl, in front of me was wriggling and bored.This did not help.  Of course she won't be able to say so, without a slap from her mother.  The problem is we all love a good tune and Peter Pan is a better story.
I have since received hate mail saying that I did not understand the story, and that I am ill equipped to write a critique about it. The point is,  that it is all a matter of opinion.  I think I do have a right to say whether I like something? Blogs contain peoples opinions. In any case as you sip out of your bone china and kick my ego with your nasty leather boots, remember I still do not want to be strung up as The Light Princess and Daisy the cow. Chew the bones over with someone else. I had a huge row about going too, my friend wanted to see the other Princess, Diana. I wanted to see a Lighter Princess and not a Tunnel one.

I loved the car, and the strong men holding her floating Royal Highness up. The story is about the misery of a little girls life with a father that does not love her, she does not cry, she floats.
It is  hugely expensive to put these things on, and the work involved  showed through the cracks of an ordinary script.  Am I being tough may be?  I wanted to be proved wrong, and I will go back later again to see if I like it any better the second time.
There seems to be 'chummy' politics going on, and not enough imagination. There is so much talent readily available in England. There should be at least one memorable song?.

Another new piece of theatre  is opening round the corner, with Sir Tim Rice's lyrics.  "From here to eternity" is another new musical worth seeing.

JEMMA ZOE AT THE BOOK SIGNING

So back to dieting that is fun. Forget gluten and sugar.  Hunger can disappear over night with just a imaginative cooking.  It can be satisfying and elegant. It can't look as if it comes from a clinic.  It does not need to look like "Solyent Green" served from the back of the lorry. Of course this is a depressing film, made about the end of the world, in which Charlton Heston was brilliant.  It is worth watching . But I do not want my food to look like it has come out of an euthanasia clinic. Jenna Zoe of Foods to Love has created a beautiful book called "Super Healthy Snacks and Treats".  Her book signing was held in the elegant Marie Antoinette Room of The Ritz Hotel. With the photography of Clare Winfield, it makes cooking an amusing adventure.
The reality is that unless we start doing something about the planet soon, we could be eating the green sludge. The good life, Felicity Kendall  and green food is just to make Violet the pig, look a viable food source.
However, green cornflakes distributed from lorries is on its way,  eg Solyent Green.
Diet food is totally inedible.The diet noodles nowadays taste like plastic bands.
My favourite Dr Fine. He does a sensible diet which I have lived on for about twenty years.  He kept me thin.

I MYSELF AND I, THERE IS A GOD

Asked if I am happy what do I answer?
"I am always happy, I am happy with who I am even if it does piss some people off, you seriously cannot please everybody".
My friend, Julia Laverne, a clairvoyant, said that when she asks her clients who they would like to be, and what would make them happy, their list of wishes are, without them knowing it, apparently me"Amanda Eliasch". 
This made me laugh.
Her clients say to her the following.  They would like to look like to look like Lana Turner or Marilyn Monroe with blue eyes.  They want their own money, sharp kit and live on nob hill,  and have fabulous teeth. The would like to have a holiday home. They would like to shut the door and be the queen of  their own domain, they want show business, they want healthy children with brains and looks. They want a past, they want to click their fingers whenever they like. 

MARIE ANTOINETTE ROOM AT THE RITZ

She said "In the absence of MM they want to be you, Amanda.
They describe you".
I, however,  would like to be like Madonna. One of her best friends, once asked me "Who had the best life "Amanda or Madonna?" I answered Madonna, but she told me "You have the better life, you just have to learn to see it".
I work on this everyday, my inner happiness.  I am happy naturally but easily get upset,  I must stop this because my day is the one apparently everybody wishes for. 

On another subject,

What do you do when your ex husband is approached by some scraggly bird in front of you, who sounds like they are a walking porn sight.  "Where were you last night?  "I had some sexy women for you last night?" (It was spoken to him as if I was not there). I wrenched him away. I said "You are talking to my ex and he is quite capable of finding women himself".What makes her think that my husband is  some relic from the 1980's.  No he is a vibrant man who can do his own hunting. 
The problem with the 80's is that  the values became plastic. The need for talent diminished.  Hormone replacement from the 1980's gave them almost immediate breast cancer. Music, art and fashion all became plastic. The shoulder pads etc, the 80's did not want the 70's. The 1980's gave up flares for leggings.
Why am I reminded of the 1980's, oh the woman with the blonde hair rushing up to my ex, with a tartan shirt, and puffed up hair, yes she was from that era.  She said this at The Zaha Hadid wing at the Serpentine. It was like a large swimming mushroom, near the river. The light from the ceiling was brought down in Tubes and the back of the gallery held up by an enormous elephant. A luxurious ravishing statement.
I now know that there is a god, last night whilst my two male friends were teasing me about my character, a man on a white charger came over and offered his hand in marriage.  Perfect timing. It is worth believing there is a god, after all.

NICKY HASLAM - Total Control | Directed by Douglas Arrowsmith

HAPPY BIRTHDAY : Nicky Haslam's Garden at Odiham Hunting Lodge

TOP MOST INTERESTING TREND SETTERS AND GO GETTERS

TOP most interesting  TREND SETTERS and GO GETTERS

Pablo Ganguli it's the brain
Karl Largerfeld it's the fingerless gloves
Cara and Poppy Delevigne it's the look
Jefferson Hack it's Another
Lucy Yeomans it's the style
Sarah Burton it's the cut
Rick Owens it's the fur
Gareth Pugh it's the zane
Nicky Haslam it's the wit, it's the life
Rushka Bergman it's the panache
Polly Morgan it's the art
Adele it's the voice
Terry Gilliam it's the  director of madness
Nikki Lund it's the rock chic
Paulo Coelho it's the writing
Snowden Hill it's the hair
Emma O'byrne it's the make up
Lady Victoria Harvey it's the social
Tim Willis it's the spiky word
Charles Eliasch it's the baritone (I know he's my son)
Sofia Dimitrova its the soprano
Marina Cicogna it's the photographic beautiful aristocrat
Balmain it's the belts
Jack Eliasch it's the six pack
Johan Eliasch it's ahead
Franca Sozzani it's the female editor
Beatrice Fresson it's the beauty
Trinny Woodall it's the bra
Inkie it's the Graffiti
Dylan Jones it's the male magazine editor
Tim Rice it's the musical
Jose Mourinho it's the football
Geordie Greig it's the tabloid editor
Charles Saatchi its the strop art

HAVE THE powers that are in charge MADE OPERA ORDINARY?

Ever since I was a child I have loved opera. I used to lie under the piano while my grandmother played and my mother sung, imagine  the magnitude, the fantasy, the singing.  I used to imagine one day I could become a singer like my mother called Caroline Brown/Gilliat. She trained at the Paris Conservatoire.  I would practise hourly but despite having stage presence, it is a gift from god that you either decide to train correctly or you don' t.I did not.
How can you tell if somebody sings well? How do I recognise great singers? Is it their voice, belief, technique? What exactly turns somebody into a number one singer.
Of course I have a love of Callas and Felicity Lott. It is of course a matter of personal choice.
Why do people prefer Adele to Callas, or Madonna to Montserrat Caballe? Or do they?
My younger son came into the house and said he was fed up of screeching and only likes Pavarotti. Opera goers find Placido Domingo to be the best of the three tenors.  Not only is he dishy but he has spot on musicality. It is the panache and star presence that ultimately takes you up the road to the road of stardom. Many people do things well, but how you present yourself is ultimately how you get to the top of anything. Your ability to get on with other people and whether you have the luck and the opportunity to be let in. Hunger and depression also drives people to succeed.  If we are happy all day why would anybody get up to do anything?

In theatre you need to see the person for them to communicate and in opera you need to hear an individual's beautiful voice to imagine the character.  To make all the singers sound the same means that you never find a 'Callas or a Caballe'  and you're left bored. Please keep standards high. Yesterday we went to see Tosca in Cardiff and I do not wish to be unkind but  the voice of the American Soprano who will remain nameless was not charismatic enough. In fact none of the cast was up to show business in my view. In a fantastic auditorium next to the sea, with an atmosphere to die for , better than the Paris's  Opera Bastille, the singers really did not do justice to their environment.  This is because of the terribly unimaginative casting, and the lack lustre ability of their teachers.  Stardom is out of fashion because celebrity has taken over.  In England all the agents are American and in Europe they are English.  My favourite new singer Sofia Dimitrova pushes herself to find a job to show her fine ability.  My son luckily is going to the Royal Welsh College of Music of Drama having finished Mannes College of Music, and perhaps when he leaves, these ideas will have changed?.

Even though I criticise last night, it was an enormous treat to be here and celebrate the world of music in Wales, and realise that somewhere in Great Britain, the classical world and old fashioned manners, appreciation of the arts is flourishing within the general population. I wish I had been brought up here, among this proud and gentle race of poets and warriors. Having been spoilt at the St David's Hotel, I feel happy to return to London.

THE NOT SO INVISIBLE WOMAN, A film by Ralph Fiennes based on the book by Clare Tomalin

As I have had a little more time, by not dragging myself around to fashion shows, but had pleasure of seeing them from my bedroom, I was able  to go to the British Film Institute to see a private viewing of "The invisible woman", which has just been to Toronto Film Festival.  A film based on Charles Dicken's lover, Nelly.  As we all know Charles Dickens was a phenomenal man with a huge amount of intelligence and energy for writing, charity and passion.  The intensity of  his books live on.  Now through the eyes of Claire Tomalin's book and the direction of Ralph Fiennes, his mistresses's life, is
allowed to live and be understood through film.
The Invisible Woman told the story about the limitations and plight of women in the 19th Century. The disgrace that a love story could bring to you, even with a famous and passionate writer.   I was so touched by the film that I was in tears for most of the second half.  A man with contradictions, open then closed.
The most touching bit that brought sadness to me was when the wife took a bracelet to the mistress, a birthday present from Charles himself. Shocking even now.
The bravery of Ralph to play with our patience, 25second takes, so that we were able to watch the emotions in the heroine's face, we are used to speed and pace, and quick editing, the picture changing every 4 seconds. He took us back to a time, when to to be in a hurry did not exist. That takes guts.  I was not able to do this in my film The gun the cake and the butterfly, which has now been selected to six festivals.. I worried that  the audience would be bored.

The ravishing scenery of the beach at Margate. The baron beauty of sand and water just with a hint of red sky took us back to the land of Pip, Great Expectations and the land of Miss Haversham. Pip, if you remember does not get the love of his life.  He fights for her, but loses.
Mr Dickens carelessly sends an open letter in a newspaper saying he wanted to leave his wife, Mr Saatchi did the same thing too, in The Mail recently and it still had the same shock appeal.

You understand in this beautiful film, some love stories are not resolved, they are not kitchen sink drama. You feel for everybody and Ralph, delivers passion with the actress playing Nelly, Felicity Jones in spades.  Congratulations.
As he said so well at the Q and A afterwards, it is now easier for him to understand the plight of a director/producer when he says "We can't afford an hotel for two nights" that there were times that the film crew would not work.  That he had to compromise, just as I did" He now understands to help a director get the right angle on a camera.
Whatever, the film is  on its way to win a BAFTA or two. There is something very touching about it, anyway because of the way I have lived my life, it pulled my heart strings, I am sure it will pull yours.
Thank you Mr Fiennes. 

FASHION FROM MY BEDROOM

London Fashion week is causing traffic jams and I personally don't like being kept out in the rain. So thank goodness for the elegance of my bedroom in Cheyne Walk and the view of Albert Bridge.Thank goodness for Style.com and Tim Blanks
London is groovy as usual with Tom Ford's show tonight. I love the following.
The gossip from New York Fashion Week was that it was a disaster darling, and that "bloggers" are now sitting in the front row.  If people do not understand the power of the blog, google, instagram, Facebook, and think Vogue is running the show, then they are a little out of date.  No it is the blogger who will soon have the power similar to the most important editors on the planet.
I am only putting dresses on here that I would actually wear. I think about fit and style mostly, leaving flamboyance to other fashionistas.
Instead I can listen to opera in the privacy of my home and talk about the fashion world whilst listening to opera. At the moment I am in love with a new voice, Sofia Dimitrova. She makes everything exhilarating.

EMILIA WICKSTEAD PIANO DRESS

JASPER CONRAN

VIVIENNE WESTWOOD

ANTONIO BERNARD

MARY KARANTZOU

PETER PILOTO

TOM FORD  Totally beautiful

CONTROVERSIAL ROGER WATERS STILL CAN BREAK WALLS DOWN

Fashion week has hit London and I had so many invitations last night, that to try and be at three different places was impossible. I had to miss my favourite friends, Pablo Ganguli and Tomas Auksas at the Sanderson Hotel. I had been asked a few weeks ago by Peter Medak for a concert. I thought it would be a classical concert, it was not.

By the kind invitation of Peter Medak.

The thought of the "Wall" did not thrill me, in my mind I pre judged, I thought it not my bag. Actually generally rock music is not my bag.Classical concerts are.
However, there is something so incredible about an audience of 90.000 people cheering,  that  I knew that I was at the right place at the right time.

Slogans, controversy. Is Roger anti Jewish, establishment?  I think he likes to question more than anything else. What is wrong with that?  I loved the bear with peace symbols, did it say "Can you trust" It was as outrageous today, as it was yesterday, and perhaps more so. The wall hides the players, hides the truth, out pops Roger  sitting in his drawing room, then fighting for the peoples rights? Palestinian/Israeli problem? Nazis? He says it all. Well I agree with him. Surely he can say what he thinks?
Making people think is always a problem, but he did it beautifully. Fit and sexy at 70, this man man has it all. Clearly egoistical, I have decided I like huge egoists.
With this in mind I have become a fan overnight.
When you think about filling Wembley you have to admire those that can, Madonna etc?. They have the IT factor.
Behind the VIP scenes I had drinks with Sean Penn, Christiane Amanpour, the clever female journalist, one of his best friends in a celebrity hide out.
To my astonishment I saw one old old friend there that I had not seen since I was at pony club aged 16.  Actually she looked amazing. I went up to her and said "Arabella do you remember me?"( Last time we saw each other I was jodphurs and I looked out of a Thelwell cartoon) she pretended she did.
Some of the men looked though shocking. I  do wish they would use BOTOX and have a facelift, I might find someone I fancy.. Come on men, get into shape, get with the programme, don't dye your hair, but at leastlet me be able to see your fabulousness?.

PIOTR ANDERSZEWSKI FRENCH SUITE 5 Sarabande Gigue J.S. Bach

MR PUTIN, DON'T PLAY CAT AND MOUSE WITH US, AND DON'T PUT YOUR FEET INTO OUR SOUP

Mr Putin should not underestimate Great Britain or the British

IN THE SNOW WE CAN STILL BEAT MOSCOW

I started writing this one week ago.  So it a little bit out of fashion.

However Mr Putin,  should wonder why people from his country want to live in Chelsea. As I look outside my house tonight in the best street in London overlooking Albert Bridge, there are few cities as beautiful as this one on a good day.
He should notice that they are leaving him, not us. I can't hear people saying "We must go to live  in Moscow", the most you hear is "Let's go for a quick week end to St Petersburg, to see their Northern Lights".
Despite his recent accolades with Syria he should never knock our  British feisty character. our beautiful singing, our contemporary artwork; our history; our inventions; which equals his, and our civil rights, which are much more correct than his, within our country, and understand why there are people wanting visas to our green and pleasant land, even on a rainy day. Let's be honest now, Syria needs a "Pipe line" and army tanks, come on it is a war about  OIL. So don't think the rest of the world are fools. Also how does anyone think, we feed the 6 billion people on our planet, if it is not making money out of war?.  Food for thought. I have just been told not to write this by the lovely Natalia who is doing my hair, but my father who wrote very cleverly about wars, Anthony Cave Brown, said to me this very sentence long ago. He also said you notice the wars do not happen in London, Paris, New York, which was before 9/11, however, there is not a running battle there?. So perhaps we should all think.
Putin's recent tirade  over gays was not particularly clever given that there are so many people who need his help and understanding in this area.
So Mr Putin, you should be careful to put your feet into our soup, you may slip.

MINT SAUCE AND THE DEVIL

If people will try to find out where my achilles heel is,  I will go to where I know they have theirs. Most people wear their achilles heel on their sleeve, treating it as a badge of honour. I find being a victim is a crashing bore.
Last week I forgot to put on facebook my eternal gratitude to a childish diva. I had thanked them one hundred times. I will say wonderful things about them, when they do wonderful things. I am ready when they are. I am not naming names,  if the cap fits, wear it, it rings true even today. It cost me several hundreds of pounds to find out why nobody else wanted them.
Who wants to know about peoples dreary side of their lives? Thank goodness for callers display on the telephone, so I can put off  slippery victims.
If you are not going to be beautiful, wanted, sexy or fashionable, I suppose spiritual and prudence is all that is left over?.
If people have led a spiteful life, you notice they suddenly want to sit under the Bodi Tree and become spiritual. How dare these avaricious losers try to criticise others?
 I will deal with my faux pas when I meet my maker.
I find many people want help, but then they are so tricky when you give it to them?.
I like to live life to the full. I am not religious, but I like going to church and lighting candles, the ritual, the singing, the community.
To be more spiritual does not mean that you can't eat lamb chops. It does however mean that you could be grateful when people are nice to you, especially when another human being is paying for you, and is trying to help you, when they do not need to.
Spiritual is knowing who you are, it does not mean that you need to be like some over bearing social worker.  It does not give you free reign to tell everybody how ghastly they are.
The lamb chop is not  the passport to the hot place.
I cannot be accused of being ponce, or of not being generous, however I am constantly accused of not giving enough money, but only when I stop paying.  All the time I did pay them they did not give a shit but when I clasped my purse to my bosom, the screams were heard for miles away. It's my purse and their fingers that were hurting.
In the meantime I could kill for some mint sauce.
With thanks to.

THE FUNNIEST BITCHES IN GREAT BRITAIN in no particular order, and thank god for them.

Camilla Long
Lyn Barber
Cathy Lett
Daisy Waugh
Julie Burchill
AA GILL
Madame Arcati
Julia Laverne
Joan Collins
Rachel Johnson

FESTIVAL FUN

Having been to my fifth film festival this year, and, in my life hundreds, I am still looking for a eureka moment. What does it generally mean? What does anything mean? 
Are they intellectual salons, market places or are they are simply brothels for pimping film.

The successful are hidden in their rooms, with some willing chickeroo getting their back scrubbed, while the rest are desperately seeking some non existent producer to give them a part or take their script to CAA.
With so much public relation protection there is little chance in major festivals of new talent bursting through the red rope.

 I do not care to hide in my room with a secret lover, although I have done, or bore some old guy with loads of cash about how brilliant my writing is.  My writing is what it is, and I intend to continue evan if I felt exhausted.

RUSHKA BERGMAN AND AMANDA ELIASCH

The nightlife at festivals is full of stunning people, looking for things that do not exist, waiting, for a glimpse of a film star or an invitation to some hidden place where the elite sit. This changes continually. The parties are supported by the Fashion houses, (for example Gucci who has a huge advert of James Franco at the Cipriani Entrance to St Mark's Square).  Chopard and  Maserarti were generous in Venice this year, with Nicholas Cage, George Clooney, James Franco, Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley all making an appearance.  
The  charming Kenneth Cole  and his wife, whose Aids Foundation's AMFAR, give a huge party at Cannes each year which is attended by many  famous faces, and their associates who wish to rush up life's ladder.
For me I love the Ischia Global International Festival rather than the large festivals, it has an intimacy and provides space to be artistic. It is also beautifully run by Pascal Vicedomini.  With Nicholas Cage, Vanessa Hudgens, Amanda Seyfried it was a small intimate affair.

PASCAL VICEDOMINI AND AMANDA ELIASCH

At the larger festivals girls are sent around as gifts, they are used as tools and it has always been the case. They rarely complain, they know they get something out of it. The Festival’s version of “cinq a sept” gives them access to the downstairs party and free tickets to the premiers.

Stephen Frears at the Danieli

There are worthy films, for example prize winning, Stephen Frear's moving  film Philomena, with music by Alexandre Desplat.  One of my favourite films is Woody Allen's Jasmine Blue. It is totally brilliant.
Then there were films that should not ever be seen but some studio boss is desperately trying to get his cash back. There are film stars showing terrible films.  The smaller Festivals actually were much more daring and creative. With less money they achieved more.  I saw  a short film, called Lucy, about autism at the Cannes Film Festival and winning like me at the NYCIFF by a girl called Libby Blood.  Roberto Rizzo  runs this festival with passion.

I  like thought provoking wacky films, not films I could watch when bored on television late at night, with too much violence. I am so sad that at least half the films I have to watch through my fingers, as some knife clatters to the floor.

Women have been given an opportunity to make a great impact on the film world this year, thank goodness, but the choices are still disappointing.

I like new brilliant writing, but the film world is looking tired, the same old faces show up year after year, looking older and older. It is time of great change and I shall be looking for the unique films in the new and smaller festivals.  There is something charming about the innocence of the new. Thank goodness for new directors like Xavier Dolan and his film Tom a la ferme. Whether I like the film or not, it is well directed, acted produced and written.

XAVIER DOLAN

When I look back at the festivals this year these are some of my favourite private moments. In fact the best moments were private never the party.

Lying on the bed with L’uomo Vogue Editor, Rushka Bergman and artist, Marina Abramovich discussing the meaning of life and Marina's new artistic projects.

AMANDA RUSHKA AND MARINA

Laughing and doing Yoga with Natalia Souza and my son in the Cipriani.

Receiving The Lina Wertmuller  Prize in memory of her late husband for best art film at the Ischia International  Global Film Festival

Having a private dinner with Marina Cicogna one of the most beautiful Italian women on the planet.

Spending time with Joel Shumacher on a boat trip in Ischia.

Starting my new script with Tim Willis about human madness.

Walking the streets of New York and Los Angeles, working on my film, The gun the cake and the butterfly with Dan at Anarchy Post, Behsat Ahmet, Justine Glenton, Roby Meola, Charles Eliasch, Hector Abaunza and the Freedman's.

Being selected in festivals such as  Susan Johnstone's "The New Media Film Festival", NYCIFF where I won best art film/drama, and the Lina Wertmuller prize at Pascal Vicedomini's Ischia Global Ineternational FF, Bel Air FF and Burbank International Film Festival where I nominated for best film made by a woman.
The film was in the words of Jean Cocteau  "was not so much as a text, as a pretext, a chance to create an atmosphere and reveal character".

It has been a challenging year, and mostly very happy. Does it matter?, Yes to me.  

I have never won any prize in my life, and was told unless I was going to be brilliant I should not bother. What makes me work? I think it is in the bones, I love work, I love writing.

Money and work should not go together as the vulgar lucre gets in the way of using my brain and creating. 

As for the festivals it is more amusing for me here, watching a blonde with longs legs and attitude go to into action than a walk round Battersea Park this week, feeding the ducks or listening to crickets in Tuscany, or sailing to St Tropez.

The reason for writing at all is that as I have to get through life with smile on my face, I might as well join in than give up. I am not ready to give up, just yet. 

Philomena, Official Trailer - Pathé